America's Favorite Novel is...?

"So many books, so little time." >>>Frank Zappa


Could you choose one, just one, favorite book? Would it be a favorite story from childhood? College reading list? A novel that your book group discussed (and kept you up all night reading?) 

I'll be thinking of the best books of my life as I watch PBS' The Great American Read, Tuesday, May 22. (Check your local listing for time) Viewers can expect to see authors and passionate readers talk about their own favorite books. 

The list of 100 novels selected for the vote is sure to get a lively discussion started. Eyebrows will be raised at some of the choices and English teachers may throw out a few literary bon mots as  PBS voters discover a reading list with novels as diverse as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or Fifty Shades of Grey. There are serious novels - 1984, Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Book Thief. There are classics - The Grapes of Wrath, The Sun Also Rises and Jane Eyre. I was happy to see children's fiction also represented - Charlotte's Web, Where The Red Fern Grows and Anne of Green Gables. 

Using the list as a guide, I'll tackle a few classics this summer that I've somehow missed reading: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll), Don Quixote (Cervantes), and Pride and Prejudice (Austen).

For more information, including a full list of the 100 novels, quiz  and how to vote, check out the PBS website:
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/home/

   
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New books in May:

                                           Fiction

Love and Ruin - Paula McLain
Miss Subways - David Duchovny
Old Black Magic (Spenser series) - Robert Parker/Ace Atkins
The High Tide Club - Mary Kay Andrews
By Invitation Only - Dorothea Benton Frank
Endless Beach - Jenny Colgan
To The Moon and Back - Karen Kingsbury

                                        Nonfiction

Not That Bad - Roxane Gay
Margaritaville: The Cookbook - Carlo Sernaglia & Julia Turshen
Spring - Karl Ove Knausgard
Paul Simon: The Life - Robert Hilburn
I'm Keith Hernandez - Keith Hernandez
Pops - Michael Chabon
Calypso - David Sedaris

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            Cheers to the Oxford comma

"I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along - and I must say I had a good time using them." >>Tom Wolfe


It's official: shrug, dismiss, ignore punctuation at your own peril.

As reported in Time magazine, a dairy in Maine will pay its drivers a whopping $5 million "after a judge ruled that the lack of one Oxford comma in a list of tasks legally exempt from overtime pay meant their work wasn't covered by law."

So there.

If you're confused about commas, keep this definition in mind. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Oxford comma is the "optional comma before the word and at the end of a list. The Oxford comma can be used to clarify the meaning of a sentence when the items in a list are not single words. Example: These items are available in black and white, red and yellow, and blue and green."

Looking for more information about our evolving language? Check out A World Without Whom: The Essential Guide to Language in the Buzzfeed Age by Emmy J. Favilla, a Buzzfeed copy chief. Favilla opens the debate by declaring the Oxford comma the "cilantro" of punctuation and a "bad boy." The book also tackles wide-ranging topics such as writing about sensitive matters, social media, and a list of British profanity.  


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                      Dear Hannah

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." >>Harriet Tubman

Dear Hannah, 

This weekend, as you graduate and move forward into the next stage of your life, you'll hear a lot of reminiscing from your older relatives. We'll be asking ourselves where did the years go? How did Hannah grow up so fast? A family member was recently sitting at a stop light when the thought suddenly occurred that if the baby we all gushed over is now graduating from college, how old does that make me? Because we remember when you were born, and the way you entertained us at the family reunion belting out a Britney Spears song. We remember when you won awards at school, landed your first summer job, and when you learned to drive.

 Family events - weddings, funerals and graduations, are times to gather and embrace, celebrate and reflect.

And, oh boy, hand out the advice.

That's the other feature of every graduation. Along with reminiscing, arrives boatloads of advice. Between the Hannah-as-a-little-girl stories, will be an abundance of serious life counsel. But please bear with us. It's not merely advice. It's also wishing that we could go back to our own 20s and be smarter. Tougher. To have had at least a few things figured out. That same woman at the stoplight who was struck that you're graduating, also wishes she'd known how to navigate office politics, where the supply closet was, and how to deal with difficult professional situations.

You were raised by two parents, grandparents, and an aunt who all believed in helping out. A covered dish, a card, a warm hug. In an office, those can be substituted by equally considerate gestures such as a smile, a surprise afternoon snack, an offer to stay late and help. 

Don't be afraid to ask questions but don't be afraid of following your own instincts. If you make a mistake, own up to it, figure out how to make it right, and if necessary, apologize. 

And now for the occasional landmine that is a co-worker or boss. Co-workers can be a fun, interesting, supportive part of our professional lives. They can also be frustrating, demanding and underhanded. Hopefully your generation has more awareness of bullying and harassment. When you start your new job, learn what the policies are concerning harassing behavior. Know the boundaries. Know your own boundaries. If someone bullies or harasses you in any way - document! Tell a trusted friend. Tell your HR representative. Try to never be alone with that person. Conversely, there are stories to share after work with friends accompanied by glasses of wine and laughter. I had a co-worker who chose lunch time to wander into the lounge area to floss her teeth as a group of us settled in to eat. I wasn't sure whether to laugh in disgust or go eat in my office. After the assistant director recovered from her own shock, she politely asked the staff person to floss in the bathroom. The woman left the lounge and as far as I know, never flossed outside of a bathroom again. 

Keep a tidy office! It doesn't have to be sterile, but occasionally stand at the door and try to see your office as a co-worker or visitor would. Does the office look like a creative diligent person works there or resemble a room from A & E's Hoarders series?  

Keep your social media tidy. To repeat, it doesn't have to be sterile, but occasionally stand back and read your posts as a co-worker or visitor would. Does your social media sound like a creative diligent person?

Be kind.

Hold on to your grace and belief in humanity. An easy and fun way to hold on is to read a picture book. You'll have an enjoyable flashback of your mom reading to you while escaping into another world. Pick up a book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert. If you've had an especially tough day, read a Sandra Boynton book OUT LOUD and laugh along with zany hippos, cows and dogs.

We are so proud of you, Hannah. Always remember that you have your very own cheering section known as your extended family. 

Take a deep breath and start moving forward. 

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         Books for graduates (and everybody else, too!)

This is Water - David Foster Wallace

Make Good Art - Neil Gaiman

Seussisms - Dr. Seuss

She Believed She Could, So She Did - Kathy Weller

What Now? - Ann Patchett

I Wish You More & Dear Girl - Amy K. Rosenthal

In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It - Lauren Graham

Yay, You! - Sandra Boynton

Congratulations, By the Way - George Saunders 

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                   Is it snowing again?

"Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see, the world hath more fools in it than ever." Charles Lamb, essayist & poet 


Hey, Mother Nature, it's time to make the donuts, wake up and smell the coffee, shake a leg.

In other words, it's time to wake up and allow spring to fully bloom and shine. Release the sun, please. We were told that the first day of spring was March 20. So far, spring has been coy and mildly flirtatious. There have been soft days, warm days when the spirit feels fully awake and rejuvenated. But the snow falls (again), shovels rest (again) against the house ready to get to work on snowy sidewalks, winter coats and gloves are pulled (again) from the closet with a sigh.

Dear Mother Nature: since December we've had temperatures well into the negative numbers; we've pumped gas when the thermometer read 16 degrees; we've had day after day of not seeing a blink of sun; we've had nights of gusty winds pounding the house and dropping tree branches. We get it. Seasons are notoriously difficult with transition. Please prove T.S. Eliot wrong - April does NOT have to be the cruelest month.

Now we ask (beg, really) for warmth, color, and tender green leaves. We promise to step outside and appreciatively take deep breaths of fresh air. Mother, you're right about human nature - soon we'll be complaining about hail and sunscreen and allergies run amok. But until then, please send some rays of sun and yellow tulips. Thanks, your biggest fan.

It's time for new books and adventure, even if it's raining or snowing. In April, we can get advice, learn new ways to cook pasta, solve a mystery and read about all kinds of families.

                                                        Nonfiction

Leslie Jamison - The Recovering
Lauren Graham - In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It
Michael Benson - Space Odyssey
Outside Magazine - Out There
Cecile Richards - Make Trouble
Barbara Ehrenreich - Natural Causes
Andrew Morton - Meghan
Giada deLaurentiis - Giada's Italy
Ali Wentworth - Go Ask Ali
Sloane Crosley - Look Alive Out There 
Madeleine Albright - Fascism

                                                           Fiction

David Balducci - The Fallen
Meg Wolitzer - The Female Persuasion
Charles Frazier - Varina
Madeline Miller - Circe
Curtis Sittenfeld - You Think It, I'll Say It
Robyn Carr - The Family Gathering

                                                     Mystery/Thriller

John Sandford - Twisted Prey
Mary Higgins Clark - I've Got My Eye On You
Stuart Woods - Shoot First
Martha Grimes - The Knowledge
Anne Hillerman - Cave of Bones
Lisa Scottoline - After Anna
Jo Nesbo - MacBeth
Iris Johansen - Shattered Mirror


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               Ready or not, it's 2018

The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy. 
                                                                                >>John Galsworthy


Maybe it was the Christmas music or the jingle bells or the bustle of fellow bookstore shoppers that caused me to fall for the marketing ploy of readers' socks. Because I know there is no such thing. But these were not ordinary socks. They were red thick cable knit cotton with a fluffy white lining. Comfortable and warm. Immediately I pictured myself curled up with a good book sporting cozy socks.

To his credit, my husband didn't (outwardly) laugh or roll his eyes when he found me standing over the basket, socks in hand while loudly exclaiming, "they're for readers!"

A pair of the socks left the store with me.

Along with the Times Square ball, temperatures have fallen all over the United States. Here in the upper Midwest, we've set records of low temperatures. I've given myself pep talks about how bracing or invigorating it is grocery shopping when it's 7 degrees. Or, how great it is to even have a high of 7 degrees because some days haven't reached zero.

In my drafty old house, cold air is an unwelcome guest. Frigid air blows in around the doors and windows. The rooms don't feel warm until the thermostat is set at a mind boggling 72 degrees. Even then as soon as the furnace shuts off, cold air quickly rushes back in and we return to shivering even while wrapped in fleece. One happy surprise has been discovering the red socks really are warm and, dare I say, practical.

It's no surprise that January celebrates hot tea, soup, and a reading blitz. My hands will regularly be wrapped around a hot cup of tea while thinking of what I'll read next. And I'm a believer now in the power of readers' socks and their comfortable coziness and cheer on a dreary day. Maybe next year, January will also be known as Readers' Socks Month.


Start your book blitz today with a new book.

                                     Fiction

The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin
Brass - Xhenet Aliu
Still Me - JoJo Moyes
Our Lady of the Prairie - Thisbe Nissen
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden - Denis Johnson (a collection of his short stories)
A State of Freedom - Neel Mukherjee
Neon in Daylight - Hermione Hoby
The Monk of Mokho - Dave Eggers
Promise Not to Tell - Jayne Anne Krentz
Robicheaux - James Lee Burke
Fools and Mortals - Bernard Cornwell
Shroud of Eternity - Terry Goodkind (fantasy)
Sisters Like Us - Susan Mallery
Fall from Grace - Danielle Steel
Dark in Death - J.D. Robb
Into the Black Nowhere - Meg Gardiner
City of Endless Night - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child


                                    Nonfiction

This Will Be My Undoing - Morgan Jenkins (essays)
Brave - Rose McGowan (memoir)
Swearing is Good For You - Emma Bryne (science)
Anatomy of a Scandal - Sarah Vaughn
When They Call You a Terrorist - Patrisse Khan-Cullors
When to Jump - Mike Lewis
Tell Me More - Kelly Corrigan
Jackie, Janet and Lee - Randy Taraborelli (bio)
Winter - Karl Ove Knausgaard (autobiography)  


January is Book Blitz Month, Hot Tea Month, National Soup Month, International Creativity Month, and Get Organized Month.

                      January Celebrations


4     -Trivia Day

9     -National Poetry at Work Day (or, read Mary Oliver)

14   -International Kite Day (Maybe in Miami??)

15   -Martin Luther King Jr Day

18   -Winnie The Pooh Day (Celebrate A.A. Milne)

23   -National Handwriting Day (Pick up Jenny Pearson's The Art of Cursive Handwriting)

24   -National Compliment Day

25   -A Room of One's Own Day (read the full essay by Virginia Woolf)

28   -Grammy Awards

29   -Thomas Paine Day (It's the perfect time to read Common Sense) 

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  And They Read Happily Ever After

"Promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh


I'm a firm believer that we're never too old to read a great picture book. And if we have a baby or toddler curled up next to us, listening and learning, it's even better.

Recently my sister and I were talking about all the babies in our lives. "We're surrounded by cuteness," she said. It's true. We have a second generation of adorable blossoming readers discovering all the magic of books. And through them, I am again transported back to picking blueberries with bears, hanging out with cows that type or anxiously waiting to find out just what the polar bear heard. 

Even as a young aunt, I was a book giver. (I loved reading the books, too!) Toys and clothes were occasionally given, but I cherished the time spent choosing the perfect book for a young niece or nephew. Now they are adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s, and we still talk about books. They remember The Giving Tree and Peter Rabbit. They remember trips to the library and book stores.

And some of those same books are special to their children. As a great-aunt, I'm still excited about buying a memorable book for my youngest of developing readers.

Choosing a picture book can seem daunting with so many choices on the shelves. First, have fun looking around the store. Don't hesitate to ask for suggestions. And think back to your own childhood...which books interested you? Look for familiar names like Seuss, Boynton, or Carle. Are you looking for a quiet book (Goodnight Moon) or an explosion of sound (Sheep in a Jeep)? A classic or introductory science? Books about siblings or the alphabet? 
  
Many books are published in both board book and picture book formats. Board books are usually able to withstand a lot of chewing, throwing and grabbing. Board book topics range from colors to yoga to sign language to nursery rhymes. 

Do you need a last-minute gift idea? Buy some bath toys, a soft baby robe or towel, and a fun waterproof bath book (Barnyard Bath or Bath Time!) by Sandra Boynton.

Packing for a trip? Grab a few of the Indestructible series (Baby Night Night or Things That Go). The language is very simple but the books themselves are just about... indestructible. 

If you've forgotten the joy of a picture book, check out Bruce Handy's book Wild Things - The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult or Leonard Marcus' compilation of conversations with celebrated illustrators about why picture books matter in Show Me a Story! 

Have fun shopping and reading! 


                                     Classics

Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal - Robert McCloskey
Corduroy - Don Freeman
The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
The Snowy Day - Ezra Jack Keats
Where's Spot? - Eric Hill
Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams 
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Paddington - Michael Bond

And check out these classic authors: Eve Bunting, Marc Brown (Arthur series), Tomie dePaola, Chris Van Allsburg and Steven Kellogg.

                                     Manners

Please and Thank You Book - Richard Scarry
Cookies: Bite Sized Lessons - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Llama Llama Time to Share - Anna Dewdney
The Thank You Book - Mo Willems

                                 First Books

I Wish You More - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
When the World was Waiting for You - Gillian Shields
On the Night You Were Born - Nancy Tillman
What a Wonderful World - Tim Hapgood
Pat the Bunny - Dorothy Kunhardt
Ten Tiny Toes - Caroline J. Church 


                                      Love

Hugs for You - Paula Hannigan
That's Me Loving You - Amy  Krouse Rosenthal
Sugar Cookies - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I Love You to the Moon and Back -  Amelia Hepworth
I Love You More - Laura Duksta
Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You - Nancy Tillman
I Love You Through and Through - Bernadette Rosetti-Shustak
How Do I Love You? - Marion D. Bauer 
Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
Papa Please Get the Moon for Me - Eric Carle

                                    Action

The Napping House - Audrey Wood, Don Wood
We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Helen Oxenbury 
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - Eileen Christelow
Little Blue Truck - Alice Schertle
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr.
Dinosaur Dance - Sandra Boynton
Silly Sally - Audrey Wood
Sheep in a Jeep - Nancy Shaw

                                New Classics

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Laura Numeroff
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - Mo Willems
The Day the Crayons Quit - Drew Daywalt
Click Clack Moo Cows That Type - Doreen Cronin 

                         Science/Early nonfiction

Baby Loves Science series:
Quarks
Aerospace Engineering
Thermodynamics

Richard Scarry - Best Word Book Ever, Busy Busy Day, A Day at the Fire Station
Jamie Lee Curtis - Today I Feel Silly, Big Words for Little People
Byron Barton - Building a House, I Want to be an Astronaut, Machines at Work
Gail Gibbons - From Seed to Plant, Farming, Sea Turtles

                            Classics with a Twist

Baby Lit series - Jennifer Adams:
The Nutcracker (dancing)
Little Women (playtime)
Moby Dick (ocean)
A Christmas Carol (colors) 

                                  Strong Girls

Feminist Baby - Loryn Brantz
This Little Trailblazer - Joan Holub
She Persisted - Chelsea Clinton
Isabella: Girl in Charge - Jennifer Fosberry
Malala's Magic Pencil - Malala Yousafzal
Little People Big Dreams (series): Marie Curie, Rosa Parks
Baby's Big World: Women Who Changed the World - Alex Fabrizio

                              My New Favorites

Birds - Kevin Henkes
What a Wonderful World - Tim Hapgood
Itsy Bitsy Spider -  Iza Trapani (among others)
When the World was Waiting for you - Gillian Shields
I Wish You More - Amy Krouse Rosenthal

                                     Siblings

Little Miss, Big Sis - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Sisters - David McPhail
The New Baby - Mercer Mayer
I'm a Big Brother/Sister - Joanna Cole

                                  Good Night 

Llama Llama Nighty Night - Anna Dewdney
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Dream Animals - Emily Winfield Martin
Ten, Nine, Eight - Molly Bang
Pete the Cat: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - James Dean
Goodnight Yoga - Mariam Gates
Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site - Sherri D. Rinker
The Night Gardener - Terry Fox
Goodnight, I Love You - Caroline J. Church

                You Can Never Go Wrong With...

Lois Ehlert - Snowballs, Eating the Alphabet, Leaf Man, Feathers for Lunch, Planting a Rainbow

Eric Carle -  Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear Brown Bear, The Tiny Seed, ABC, (with Bill Martin, Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?)

Dr. Seuss - Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, What Pet Should I Get?

Kevin Henkes - Birds, Sheila Rae the Brave, Lilly's Plastic Purse, Old Bear

Paul Galdone (fairy tales) - The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Henny Penny, Jack and the Beanstalk

Beatrix Potter - The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, The Tale of Two Bad Mice 

                             Books About Books

Read to Your Bunny - Rosemary Wells
Bunny's Book Club - Annie Silvestro
Rocket Writes a Story - Tad Hills
Llama Llama's Little Library - Anna Dewdney
Lola at the Library - Anna McQueen
Library Lion - Michelle Knudsen
Biscuit Loves the Library - Alyssa Capucilli
How to Read a Story - Kate Messner
Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed - Eileen Christelow

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                                Mortalis*

"The curse of mortality. You spend the first portion of your life learning, growing stronger, more capable. And then, through no fault of your own, your body begins to fail. You regress. Beauty withers. Organs fail. As your wisdom and experience are peaking, your traitorous body becomes a prison." Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven


Emma Morano of Verbania, Italy, witnessed a lot of change in her 117 years of life. She arrived along with the new century, lived through two world wars, watched a world quickly changing thanks to industry and technology. According to The New York Times, Emma Morano was the oldest documented person on Earth at 117 years, 137 days, and a few hours. She was also the last person documented to have been born in the 1800s. The Times described her as a devout Catholic who was married once and only briefly because she "didn't want to be dominated by anyone." Her diet included three raw eggs each day. Being well-groomed was important as was the anti-aging skin cream found in her nightstand drawer, the Times reported. Emma Morano died April 15, 2017.

We're often reminded that only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. Taxes are fairly predictable. Death is a  sometimes unpredictable, always inescapable conclusion. Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, summed it up this way: "On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." 

If you're struggling with the death of loved ones or your own mortality, you aren't alone. At times it can seem that grief has moved in and now has a permanent seat at the table.

Rumi, a Persian poet (1207-1273), wrote that being human is to have unwelcome guests of grief, anger, fear, etc... His poem, "The Guest House," is often used in mindfulness classes and retreats:
"This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor."

The unexpected visitors can be difficult subjects. There are  books to enlighten, accompany, and comfort us.

Every Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi
End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe
Being Mortal - Atul Gawande
On Living - Kerry Egan
Bettyville - George Hodgman
Enjoy Every Sandwich - Lee Lipsenthal
A Widow's Story - Joyce Carol Oates
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
The Theft of Memory - Jonathan Kozol
The Year of Magical Thinking &
Blue Nights - Joan Didion
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? - Roz Chast
The Bright Hour - Nina Riggs
The Middle Place - Kelly Corrigan
Stitches - Anne Lamott
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story - Edwidge Danticat


"Songs to aging children come,
Aging children, I am one.

People hurry by so quickly
Don't they hear the melodies
In the chiming and the clicking
And the laughing harmonies?

Songs to aging children come,
Aging children, I am one."  Joni Mitchell, 1967 


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* Mortalis - (Latin, 1520s) noun. A mortal, human being. American Heritage Dictionary


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